I actually see Rich's point...and consider it a very good one. That was the intention of the GGC program (though I had somewhat overlooked the business focus earlier). Small businesses come and go, today's internet businesses probably more so than ever. That is to be expected...especially in such a volatile area as reptiles. Many of these people don't have a long term interest in the animals - they see the prices when they start, get discouraged that they aren't making their money back hand over fist, struggle against heavy competition, and lose interest. Even people that do have the history sometimes move on - whether due to retirement, health issues, life changes, or whatever.
Looking back to when I started on this site in 2004, it seemed like there were a lot more contributors...and a lot more "real" businesses. The GGC program started in mid February of 05, had a big hiccup (IMO, at the time) with
the fall from grace, but still had 133 participants by the end of the year. Another 47 were added in 2006....
Only 17 of those 180 still have their certificates active (14 of those are from 2005)...but more telling is that only 125 certificates have been processed in the next 5 yrs.
What's to blame, though?
Different attitudes - For sure.
Fewer contributors - I think so.
Fewer actual businesses - Probably.
Decreased awareness - Yes.
Fewer people pursuing business in the "traditional" way - Yup.
It is as hard for me to fathom, as it is for you, believe me...I just don't get the social networking craze. I have a Facebook page (2, actually, because my whole purpose was to start a KBI Herpetoculture page; and it wouldn't let me do that without a personal page. I wasn't smart enough to just enter my name as KBI Herpetoculture
), but I hate it. I rarely post, and don't even look at it for weeks at a time. But that's me - and I'm tired and cranky, so people expect that of me.
I agree that dwindling numbers are telling a story...but that doesn't necessarily have to be the end of this. It would be easy enough to write it off as a good idea that was under appreciated; but let's consider decreased awareness. Rarely is the GGC a topic of conversation; and it isn't really advertised that I recall seeing. There are 2 accounts sitting there in red, due to a negative score on their poll, that only have one vote. I don't have time (or the desire) at this moment to review the polls, but I'm quite sure there are a number of them with no votes. I'm guessing that only contributing members can vote(?), but how are we keeping people aware that this program exists & encouraging participation?
I'm as guilty as the next person - I haven't voted on a poll in years; but that is partially because I don't most of these people even by reputation, and I don't give my recommendations lightly. Heck, near as I can tell, a lot of them don't even have reputations (no offense intended to those people).
We can scrap the idea, or try to do something with it - which might entail reconsidering the vision, but it definitely means figuring out what we can do to make it appeal to people. My only reason for suggesting the option of not holding fast to the website requirement was because fewer people are going that route...I had lost site of the BUSINESS focus; but you raised a very valid point on that front, so I'm reconsidering. I suspect that if we were to extend the audit to the un-highlighted names, we would find more without websites (or certificates posted) - which further raises the question.
Odd that none of the expired certificate holders have chimed in on this thread
